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When an app goes viral, how can you know whether it’s all good fun — or covertly violating your privacy by, say, sending your face to the Russian government?

That’s the burning question about FaceApp, a program that takes photos of people and “ages” them using artificial intelligence. Soon after it shot to the top of the Apple and Google store charts this week, privacy advocates began waving warning flags about the Russian-made app’s vague legalese. Word spread quickly that the app might be a disinformation campaign or secretly downloading your entire photo album. Leaders of the Democratic party warned campaigns to delete the app ‘immediately.’

I got some answers by running my own forensic analysis and talking to the CEO of the company that made the app. But the bigger lesson was how much app-makers and the stores run by Apple and Google leave us flying blind when it comes to privacy.